The Youngthing
by Pineapplevine13
Summary: A strange device cleverly named the Youngthing turns Shawn and Gus into kids! Join Shawn as he tells how the whole thing went down, and meet some new friends, as well as enemies along the way. Rated T for safety.
1. We're kids

**A/N: I don't know if you get paid or not if you give children to an orphanage, but you probably don't. Please enjoy the story.**

Hello. My name is Shawn Spencer. I'm a psychic detective working for the SBPD. What I'm about to tell you may surprise you. You may not believe it, but this actually happened.

It all started last Saturday. Gus and I were heading back to the Psych office after finally catching a vicious Cereal Killer (Not a Serial Killer). Apparently a bag of drugs was lost in a cereal factory and some guy kept raiding people's cereal boxes to find it.

Anyway, it was a cold winter day. Gus and I were wearing long scarves given to us by an elderly woman who was a victim of the Cereal Killer. Gus was rubbing his hands together and blowing hot air onto them. It was so cold that day, we could see our own breath.

Just then, out of nowhere, a black van comes roaring down the street. Someone was firing a gun at a nerdy-looking kid behind us. The kid bolted and started running away. Gus and I decided to go after him. Because, after all, a kid was being fired at. After a few minutes of chasing this kid, the black van was still after him. I noticed a shot from the gun hit a tree. In doing so, a gust of wind blew some dead leaves on the ground up to the tree's branches. The dead leaves turned from a muddy brown to a dark red color, then to a bright summer green.

I think that the guy shooting from the black van thought we were friends of the kid, so he started shooting at me and Gus! We started running faster. The kid was out of sight now. Gus's scarf must have caused him to trip. After hearing Gus fall, I turned around to help him and witnessed him get shot. I knew I had to help Gus. I rushed to his side, but I got shot, too. Then I blacked out.

I woke up later in an alley. It was dark outside now. I sat up and looked around. I had a cloth over my mouth which I took off. I looked around for Gus, but I didn't see him. But I did see the kid who was running away from the van. Another kid was there, but I didn't recognize him.

"You're awake," the kid said. "Yeah... what happened? Who are you? Why was the guy in that van shooting at you?" I asked him. My voice sounded a bit higher than usual. "My name is Daniel. That guy in the van's name is Mark, and he made a machine called the Youngthing," he said. "That's a clever name for a machine..." I said in the most sarcastic voice I had. "What does it do?"

"The Youngthing is a device that makes things younger. I was working on it with him, and, well... Let's just say I borrowed it. But it was for a good cause. I was saving a life with it. I was going to return it. I did, but then I found his Journal. It turns out that Mark wasn't going to use the Youngthing for good causes like he claimed."

I remembered the tree coming back to life while I was running away from the van with Gus.

"So... what does he want to do with it?"

"Mark wants to use the Youngthing to turn innocent people into children and sell them to orphanages to make money. He wrote it in his Journal, but he caught me reading it. He shot me with the Youngthing. Once you are hit with the Youngthing, you keep getting younger unless you have gold with you."

I noticed I was wearing a locket. So was Daniel, and the kid I didn't recognize in the distance. Now that I think about it, he kind of looks like... Gus.

"Gus! Is that you, Gus?!"

Gus opened his eyes and moaned.

"Is this... Heaven?" He asked.

"No. We're in an alley. Are you okay?"

"Who are you? Wait... Shawn?"

"Yeah, Gus! It's me, buddy. Don't worry. This is Daniel, he's helping us. We'll be back to our normal adult selves in no time."

Gus's eyes widened. I think this was where he realized he looked like a 10-year-old. He scooted over quickly to a nearby puddle to see his reflection.

"I'm a kid! What happened?!" Gus was really shocked. More shocked than I was.

"It seems that the guy in the van, Mike-"

"Mark," Daniel corrected me.

"Right... Mark was working with this guy, Daniel, on a gun called the Youngthing. It makes things younger."

"Well, that's a really clever name!" Gus said sarcastically like I did.

"You know, I thought of it," Daniel chimed in.

I told Gus everything Daniel already told me.

"These lockets are made of gold?" Gus asked.

"Actually, the lockets themselves are plastic. There's a piece of gold inside the locket. Don't open it, because if you do, the gold might fall out, and you'll start to get even younger than you are now," Daniel said.

We all heard a loud screech and turned to see that the black van was back.

"Run!" Daniel shouted. The three of us ran out of the alley and into the streets of Santa Barbara.

"What happens if we get shot while we're wearing the lockets?!" I asked Daniel.

"Nothing! As long as you're wearing it, and the gold is still inside, the Youngthing won't have an effect on you! Just keep running! If he knows we have gold then he'll try to take it from us!"

Mark was shooting every which way trying to hit us. Gus was zig-zagging to avoid shots.

Then my phone started ringing. I took it out and answered it. "Hello?!"

"Shawn? Is that you? Your voice is higher than usual. Is something wrong?" It was Jules.

"Yeah! Jules! Some psycho-maniac turned Gus, Myself, and some other guy into kids!"

"Shawn, where are you right now?"

"I think we're on Ortega street!" I said while dodging as many shots as I could.

"Um, Shawn, Uh... I'm going to call you back later, okay?"

Lucky for me, there were a few bars on that street, and Juliet must have thought I was drunk.

"Wait, Jules!" She hung up the phone.

"Jules isn't going to believe that, Shawn!" Gus said, still zig-zagging.

"I know, but wait'll she sees me in person! We have to get to the Psych office!"


	2. TO THE BLUEBERRY!

**A/N: I realized that in the last chapter there were some things I didn't correctly specify, like why Shawn had a cloth over his mouth. Anyway, here's chapter 2! It's shorter than the last one but hang on, it'll get better! :)**

Gus, Daniel and I all rushed to the Psych Office. Gus and I left the blueberry there, and Mark could catch up to us if we didn't hurry.

"So where's this Psych Office of yours?!" Daniel asked. We were all tired of running, and Mark was still on our tails. "We're almost there!" I shouted as I saw a familiar beach in the distance. I think we lost Mark around a corner, because I couldn't see the black van behind us.

We reached the Psych Office, and ran to the blueberry. "It's locked!" Gus felt around in his pockets but had no luck finding any car keys. He must have left them in the Psych Office.

Gus ran into the Psych Office to get the keys to the blueberry. Daniel and I waited out next to the blueberry. A bit longer than a minute later, and Gus was still in the Psych Office. Daniel and I went inside the Psych Office only to find no signs of Gus. I found the keys to the blueberry on the desk. Either Gus wasn't fully awake, or something terrible happened. I took the keys. We heard screaming and struggling which made us run back outside to see Gus being taken away by Mark in the black van.

"Gus!" I shouted. I got into the Blueberry with Daniel and we followed Mark. My feet could barely reach the brakes. We lost Mark again. We decided to go to the police station. Maybe Jules could help us find Gus.

"I sure hope we don't get pulled over for this," said Daniel. Then a siren went off. "Thanks, man. Thanks..." I pulled over and rolled the windows down. This wasn't the first time I've been pulled over, and it probably won't be the last.

I didn't think anybody would be able to see through windows of a car at speeds of over 30 miles per hour and register that the driver was a child.

"65 in a 40," said a familiar voice. "Wait a minute, aren't you a little young to be driving and operating a vehicle?"

"Oh, Buzz! Hi... and yes, yes I am," I answered.

"That trick doesn't work on me, Phineas," said Buzz. "Wait... Shawn? Is that you? What happened?"

"It's a long story but I think it can wait until we get to the station!" I said. I drove off to the station, leaving Buzz behind. He probably didn't mind it, anyway. Afterall, I am a psychic detective.

We finally got to the police station, where Daniel and I got out of the car to go find Juliet. Her car was in the parking lot, so she was most likely there. Forgetting about Daniel, I rushed inside the police station like it was my own home, and went to Juliet's desk. She was there.

"Hey, Jules!"

"Shawn? What on earth happened to you?"

"Like I was telling you earlier, a psycho-maniac turned Gus, I, and another guy into kids!"

"Oh, yeah... about what I said earlier..."

"You thought I was high. I get it. Jules, we have another problem here! Gus was kidnapped. Literally! We've got to go find him!"

"Okay, Shawn. Do you know where he might be?"

"No, but Daniel here might! Daniel?" Daniel was gone. "Where'd he go?" I went outside the police station with Juliet following close behind. "Dude! What are you doing?" Daniel had his tongue stuck to a telephone pole. "I was only wondering if it was true that your tongue sticks to telephone poles in the cold winter," he shrugged. It was hard to understand him, because he was REALLY stuck to that pole.

Juliet and I eventually disconnected Daniel from the telephone pole.

"Daniel, do you know where Mark might have taken Gus?" I asked.

"Who's Mark?" asked Jules.

"The psycho-maniac that turned us into kids!"

"I know where his lab is, but I doubt he'd take Gus there. Maybe there are clues that can tell us where he went," said Daniel.


	3. Mark makes a call

**A/N: Once again, I'm 99.9% positive that you don't get paid when you give children to orphanages! This chapter is a bit longer than the last one was. Enjoy!**

"Take a left," said Daniel, "No, no, no... a right. Sorry."

"It'd be nice if you could make up your mind before you say where to turn!" Jules said. She was driving us to Mark's lab, where we could hopefully find some clues that might be able to lead us to where Gus is.

"This is it! We're here," said Daniel.

"Daniel, this is a park," I sighed.

"Follow me, the lab is over there," Daniel got out of the car and ran towards an old oak tree. Jules and I followed him there.

"Now I just need to put in the password so we can get inside," he said.

"Wait, Daniel, don't you think he would have changed it?" I asked.

He hesitated before entering a password anyway. He was trying not to let us see, but a puddle on the ground allowed me to see the password. The password was "projectyoungthing01". An entrance opened in the tree.

"Huh, that's new," said Daniel, "Usually there is a tile that flips you upside-down."

Daniel beckoned us to come inside the tree. There was little to no space in there. The door closed and afterwards was the scariest elevator ride I've ever had in my life.

"THAT'S NEW, TOO!" Daniel shouted while the tree-elevator was falling with incredible speed. "USUALLY IT'S NOT THIS FAST!"

"DANIEL, I THINK THIS IS A TRAP!" I shouted back at him.

"ACTUALLY, MARK ALREADY TOLD ME HE WAS GOING TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ENTRANCE. I THINK WE'LL BE OKAY!"

The tree-elevator hit the ground with a loud thud. We got out, and stood in awe.

"This lab is huge," I said.

We started looking for any evidence that Mark had been here with Gus. After a few minutes of searching, we heard a telephone ring. Daniel put it on speaker phone mode.

"Hello, Daniel," said a deep voice. "I know that you and your friend are searching for me, but you won't have any luck with that."

"It's Mark," Daniel said.

"Now, if you want your little friend here to survive, here's what you have to do. We're going to continue with my plan. I'm sure you're aware what it is," said Mark.

"First, I want you to kidnap Iris Vick, the daughter of the Police Chief. Tell her you're just going on a little walk with her. Then I want you to show her the Youngthing. There's a copy of it on your desk. Tell her it can make her family and herself live forever. Use it on her to make her younger than she already is, and then sell her to the orphanage on Fig street. Leave the money on my desk, and after you complete this task, I'll tell you what to do next." Mark hung up the phone.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, "We can't kidnap the Chief's kid! Who knows how she'll react then?"

"I think that's the point, Shawn." Jules said. "We have to find a way around this. How much do children usually go for?"

"A couple hundred, usually," said Daniel.

"I didn't know people sold children for money. That's just down-right ridiculous," I said.

"Do any of your parents know about this?" asked Jules.

"Our parents could probably care less that we're kids again. Anyway, I suggest we just wait a while and leave a couple hundred bucks here." Daniel said.

"Where do we get the money from?" I asked, which I had regretted two and a half seconds later. Jules started looking at me. She knew I already got the check for busting the Cereal Killer.

"Oh, come on, Jules! I need that money!" I said.

"For what, buying a new TV and decorating the Psych Office? Your best friend's life is at stake. You'll have plenty of money left to spend on that kind of thing," said Jules.

"I haven't even cashed it in yet," I said, "There's an ATM across the street. We'll have to do it there."

We went up the tree-elevator, which was going a normal speed this time. The elevator music was really familiar. Eventually, I started singing along.

"I'll be gone... IN A DAY OR TWO!" Daniel and Jules stared at me like I was insane. The tree-elevator came to a stop, and we got out. Just then, we saw Mark's black van speeding down the street.

"IT'S HIM! Quick, we have to follow him!" Daniel said as we all ran to Juliet's car and followed Mark to wherever he was going. He started shooting at us with the Youngthing, and hit the car. And since we already knew what the Youngthing does, Daniel and I knew this wouldn't be good. Parts of Juliet's car started flying out onto the open road, until nothing was left but an iron frame and chairs.

"What just happened?!" Juliet screamed.

"Mark used the Youngthing on your car! And it looks like he's getting away!" said Daniel as he unbuckled himself from the seat he was in and ran after the black van.


	4. Part of his plan

**A/N: Sorry its late! I'll try to write and publish on weekends.**

"Daniel, it's hopeless!" I said. Daniel had run around in circles around blocks trying to figure out where Mark went. "We already tried chasing him. He's too fast for us."

"Shawn, do you have the check cashed in?" Jules asked me.

"Yes, and I have it right here. Wait..." I couldn't feel my wallet in my pockets.

"Shawn, don't tell me you lost the money!"

"I lost the money."

"Now what are we going to do?" she asked, moaning.

"We'll just have to kidnap Iris like Mark said," Daniel chimed in, causing people to stare at us.

"Don't say that! People are staring at us!" Juliet whispered to Daniel. He only shrugged and sat down on the sidewalk.

"Wait, I have an idea." Juliet stared at the remaining parts of her car. She made a phone call.

"Mark has Gus held captive, right?" I asked Daniel. He noded in response. "Won't he wonder why Gus isn't getting younger? Knowing Gus, he'll give in to the first signs of torture."

"A little help would be nice, guys," said Juliet as we watched her pull her car's framework to the end of the block. Daniel and I helped Juliet move the framework of her car. We were pushing and she was pulling. We stopped at a junkyard. A young woman wearing worn out over-alls came out of an old shack as we stopped moving the framework of Juliet's car. "Yuppers, I could prolly part with thirty-five hundred in cash for all this right here," she said. She spoke in a southern accent which was clearly fake. "That's all we need, thanks, Molly," Juliet said. She and Molly went into the shack to get paperwork done, or whatever car-part-buying people do when the purchase something.

"SHAWN, SHAWN! GET ME AWAY FROM THIS PSYCHO!"

Daniel and I turned around as Mark's black van came roaring down the street and into the junkyard. Piles of junk started falling and some hit the van.

"GUS! DON'T WORRY, GUS! WE'LL SAVE YOU!" I said as Daniel and I took cover behind an old juke box.

"I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO, DANIEL!" Shouted Mark, "YOU DISOBEDIENT CHILD!" Mark started shooting at us again. He eventually shot the juke box we were hiding behind. Daniel covered himself with a trash can lid.

"I thought you said that nothing would happen if he shoots us!" I yelled quiet enough so that Mark wouldn't hear our conversation.

"I know, but we have to play along or else Mark will catch onto us and steal the gold in our lockets!" Daniel was knocked back by an explosion of screws as Mark hit the trash can lid with the Youngthing.

"GUS, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" I shouted as I saw Gus trying to squeeze out of an open window on the black van.

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?!" He shouted back.

Mark noticed this and started rolling up the windows with a crank. Noticing this, I figured that the van must be old. Gus was stuck in the window now. Mark began driving forwards and backwards into piles of random junk trying to shoot us with the Youngthing. A tv almost fell on me in the process... as well as an old radio, an alarm clock, and a bomb. How could my day get any worse? Mark began throwing bombs at Daniel and I. Juliet came out of the old shack only to be caught by a massive explosion. "JULIET!" I ran to her side in panic. Everything felt like slow motion. Looking behind me, I could see Daniel getting knocked out by an explosion. Now, I know we had just sold the framework of Juliet's car, but I did what my insticts told me to do. I ran. I ran far, far away from there. I didn't even dare to look back. As I ran, the only thing I could hear was Gus yelling for help. I wanted to help them but I knew I couldn't fight alone.

"SHAWN! GET BACK HERE! I'M STUCK IN A WINDOW!"

I just kept on running. I didn't really have any idea what I was doing, either. My friends needed my help. But there was nothing I could do. I went back to the park. I put in the password, "projectyoungthing01". I went to the lab. I needed to find something I could use to fight back. Without even giving it a second thought, I grabbed the clone of the Youngthing which was still sitting on Daniel's desk. I went back to the junkyard.

Nobody was there. No van. No Daniel. No Juliet. I could find no signs of Molly anywhere. The junkyard was deserted.

I lost the check money.

Juliet obviously had the money from the car parts.

This was all part of Mark's plan. Now I had to follow through with it, or he may have found and captured everyone else I care for.


	5. Nothing I could do

**A/N: Sorry it's late again. It's the holiday season, and I couldn't get the story uploaded because of a strange 503 error whenever I tried to log in to fanfiction. I'm trying to get back on schedule, here. It's around 550 words... About half what it should be... but please enjoy. :)**

"No," I said unwillingly. "I can't do this alone." I was in aftershock. It was obvious that Mark had taken Daniel, Juliet, and Molly, who I didn't know very well. If Mark had my friends, he would surely follow through with his evil plot of turning them into children and selling them to an orphanage somewhere where I won't be able to find them. Lost in thought, I spun around to see police cars and hear sirens. Lassie was there. "You're going to have to get out of here, kid." he showed me his badge. "This is a police investigation."

"Lassie!"

After seeing my amazing face, he froze in his tracks. For some reason, I got to keep my awesome face and hair.

"Spencer? What the heck is going on?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time."

Before I knew it, we were in the SBPD's interrogation room. Lassie hooked up a lie detector to me to be sure I wasn't lying.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Shawn Spencer."

"And what happened today?"

I told Lassie everything. About the Cereal Killer, how Gus's scarf made him trip while we were chasing Daniel, when I saw the tree's leaves be put back on itself, when we met Daniel, when Gus was kidnapped, driving the Blueberry to the department to find Juliet and on the way meeting McNab, chasing Mark, the lab, Juliet's car falling apart, and everything that happened in the junkyard. There were, of course, some parts of the day I didn't need to mention. Such as Daniel licking a telephone pole.

"Do your parents know about this?"

"C'mon, Lassie, just because I look like a kid doesn't mean I am one."

There was an awkward silence.

"No. They have no idea... But I'd think they'd be better off not knowing. They'll overreact."

"Sorry, Spencer, but they have the right to know about the sittuation."

Shortly after, I was going home with my Dad. I wasn't allowed to do anything. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere. I had to stay there, and I couldn't help at all. It was around 11:30 pm. But then I remembered... I still had the YoungThing. It was in my backpack.

And so was the envelope with the check money.

...only, the money wasn't in there...

I was going to take the YoungThing out of my backpack, but then my Dad came in the room to see if I was asleep or not. I pretended I couldn't sleep and looked out the open window.

My Dad did nothing, but simply said "Don't worry, Shawn. They'll find them. Now go to sleep."

After I heard the door close, I got out the YoungThing. It looked pretty cool in the dark.

"I'm still here, Shawn."

Dang it, I should have looked behind me.

"Why didn't you tell anyone you had it, Shawn?"

"Had what?"

"The gun, Shawn! The gun!"

"It's not the real one. It's just a replica."

"Give it here, Shawn. It's evidence."

"No," I said. I jumped out the window and onto the roof of the balcony. From there, I jumped into a tree, climbed down, and ran. I could hear my Dad shouting at me. He couldn't fit through the window so he ran downstairs. I bet by the time he got outside I was already gone. I knew what I had to do. I had to get serious. I was going to find Mark and save everyone.


	6. Mark's Plan B

**A/N: Long time, no update. Sorry about that...**

I ran down the streets of Santa Barbara, right to that park. It was now a crime scene. Even though nobody was there, I stealthily, and casually, made my way over the the tree which would take me to the lab. I entered the password and went down the elevator, which was playing "Gangam Style" on the way down for some reason.

As soon as I got down there, I looked around. Because it was obvious, maybe Mark was hiding out there. But there were no signs. Then I heard the phone ring. I picked it up carefully. "Hello, Shawn." I heard Mark say on the other end.

"What do you want from me, Mark?! What did you do with my friends?!" I asked.

"If you want your friends to survive, I think we should try a new plan, since you didn't listen to my last one." Said Mark. "Listen carefully. This is what I want you to do. Set a trap for Lassiter to make him come to the lab. Shoot him with the YoungThing's replica, and sell him."

Stupidest plan ever, right? It's like he ran out of ideas or something.

"Oh," he said, "and I have your parents." He ended the call before I could respond.

I had to follow through with this new plan. I had to call Lassie and somehow convince him that he needs to show up. I still thought it was a really stupid plan. Why couldn't I have just gone to his house, and shoot him AND Marlowe? Win-win! OUCH, Lassie just punched me in the arm.

Anyway, I dialed Lassie's number into the phone. For some reason, I didn't have my phone with me, either.

"What is it, Spencer? This better be good. We just found out that Mark Steeling, the 'Cereal' killer, somehow broke out of jail and I'm pretty swamped at the moment."

Strange, the Cereal Killer's name was Mark. Coincidence? I think not.

"Spencer?"

"Oh, uh, I need you to come to the crime scene. I found something that could help us solve the case!"

"Us? Spencer, you were told to stay out of this."

Despite my choice of words after that, Lassie said he'd show up. I took this time to read Mark's journal, which stated in iQuote:  
"I've decided to invent a machine called the YoungThing, which shall turn people into children. It will be powered by miniature crystals, which look like drugs. Sadly, I lost the crystals in a cereal factory I used to work at. Since the crystals are extremely rare, it will be easier to raid houses and stores to find the crystals!"  
It IS said "iQuote", right? Like an app?

I heart a noise, quickly closed the journal, and stood prepared in front of the elevator, waiting for it to open. The door opened, and I immediately shot Lassie with the YoungThing and he fell into a state of unconsciousness. It turns out that the local orphanages were stupid enough to buy him from another kid... If they would have known any better, they might have thought I was a kid selling his brother or something. I knew Lassie would find a method of escape. It was a good thing he had a wedding ring on his finger, so he wouldn't get even younger after the blast.


End file.
